


The Second Time You Saved Me

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Feels, Garrett is a bigger jerk, Gen, Kissing, Love, Phil has a Han Solo Moment, Resolution, Skye gets to be awesome, Violence, Ward is a jerk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-03
Updated: 2014-05-03
Packaged: 2018-01-21 17:27:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1558307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just feels about the events between "Nothing Personal" and the next episode.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Second Time You Saved Me

NOW

"You're thinking about stuff."

"Yeah," he said, letting it drift a bit. Maybe she wouldn't try to pick it back up.

"That whole thing with Ward, it was nasty."

"Sure was," he replied, nodding.

They were sitting on the hangar of the Bus, watching the sun go down. Legs dangling over, sharing a bottle of wine Coulson had bought at the corner store near their last motel. It wasn't very good. But, they'd taken back the Bus, and that was.

"You really want to know what I'm thinking?"

Skye's mouth opened, she thought otherwise and smiled, closing it.

He blinked, looked down. "I was wishing I was 20 years younger." 

Skye shook her head, "Phil," she started. "Please tell me you aren't letting what that scumbag Garrett said get to you." She leaned forward to make contact with his eyes. 

"He's right," he said. Her face read startled, angry, all at once. "Hold on, Skye," he continued. "It is inappropriate. I am very much older than you," he sighed. "very much."

"I don't care!" she yelled out. "Universe!" she yelled again, waving her arms back and forth, "Me, not caring!"

Coulson was not impressed. He wanted to have a real conversation, and she was doing that thing, again...

 

***

THEN

 

Garrett stared at the lovely little drama playing out in front of him. He couldn't believe Ward was so stupid, so out of control. And Coulson. Phil, Phil, Phil. Yeah, the girl was cute, but REALLY?

Coulson was already a dead man walking, but Ward? A liability. Unforgivable, was the thought that popped into Garrett's mind.

Yes, they'd roughed Phil up, and then Ward had brought the girl in. She flipped out and ran right for Coulson. They were only dangerous to themselves, he thought, shaking his head. He had everything he needed, right here, all laid out.

"Honey," Garrett said to Skye, leaning over her, as she held Coulson, "We're going to kill him. So, tell him goodbye."

"Over.My.Dead.Body." she said through clenched teeth, locking her tearful eyes on Garrett with silent rage.

"Very good!" Garrett said with admiration. "Now, that's how it's done." Garrett nodded at Ward.

Ward stalked towards her.

Skye stood up and stared him down. "I would rather spend one last moment with him," she said, pointing at Coulson, "Than live one second with you. Don't even *think* about touching me." 

"Ouch," said Garrett, then, tsk, "Phil, she's half your age."

Coulson just shrugged a little. "It turns out Skye doesn't like Nazis assholes. But, you know who you should really be worried about Garrett? Yourself."

Garrett's eyes narrowed. Coulson was just buying time...

"Because you're going to find out very, very soon, that Ward's been playing you the same way he was playing us."

A nasty expression passed over Garrett's face. He shifted his eyes to Ward. Ward was staring death at Coulson.

"He's planning to kill you," Skye said, crossing her arms, looking like the cat-that-ate-the-canary. "That's what he's been promising, ever since you sent Mike to trail him."

Ward's whole face turned, injured, pleading at Skye. Ward looked quickly back at Garrett, "She is *lying*," he retorted. His eyes back to Skye: don't do this now.

Garrett just watched, nodding knowingly. 

"I thought the girl would give us what we wanted if we threatened Coulson," he monologued. "Let her see it," he went on, pulling the pistol out of his holster. He checked the magazine to make sure it was loaded. "But, I think the real answer is that Coulson will just have to break her for us." He handed the pistol to Ward. Ward took it, swallowing.

"Shoot her," Garrett ordered. Ward just stared blankly at him. "Shoot the *girl*," Garrett hissed, a hint of glee in his voice.

Skye steeled herself, Coulson's eyes widened, he tried to stand. 

"Uh, uh, Phil," Garrett said, kicking him back down to the ground. 

"I-I can't," Ward said, threatening to snap.

"Yeah, I know," Garrett said coldly. Then, motioning to Ward, he said, "Give it back. Let a real man handle it."

Ward threw the gun across the room. "No," he said to Garrett. "Find another way."

"Mr. Petersen?" yelled Garrett.

Deathlok walked in. "I need you to finish Plan B."

 

***

NOW

 

"You know what, Phil?" she said, stressing his name sarcastically, leaning into him. "If you were 20 years younger, I probably wouldn't even like you."

Coulson frowned a little. He'd never looked at it that way.

"And I would still be me," she continued, pointing at her chest, "But you? You wouldn't be *you*." 

He chuckled a little at that. Looked out at the sunset.

"Part of being older is knowing yourself," he said, looking back at her. "And knowing what you can and can't do. For yourself. Or for others."

"Care to clarify, Don Juan?" she asked. "I mean, I could take that just *so* many ways."

He was a little mortified by the suggestion. "You like to get me to talk about stuff, I get that," he said, a little too professionally. It made her shift and cross her arms. Oh, wow, she could read him like...

"No, what I do is I just say what I'm actually feeling," she said, raising her eyebrows, "And then you talk around it. Ever noticed that?"

It was getting dark, the hangar's auto lights came on.

"I'm just not a paranoid freak, like you SHIELDHYDRA guys," she continued. "And I'm not holding back, or lining up my hand, so I can make sure I always WIN." She smiled at him, a fake, strained smile. "And you just don't know what to do with that, doyou?

"Yes," he said firmly.

"Yes, what?" she replied, waiting for the punchline. 

"I do know what to do with it."

She hadn't expected that, she'd expected him to retreat, to hiding, now that they were safe again. 

"What do you think's kept me going for this long?" he asked her. "Why do you think Garrett threatened you, in the end? Because I do know what to do with it, Skye. I've treasured it. Every single moment. Big stuff, like the GH drug," he started, guilt flickering over his face. "Or, like, the tiniest thing, the way you snort sometimes when you laugh at your own jokes, but, right now..."

Skye watched him, the realization hitting her. "We need to kiss, right now."

"What?!" he exclaimed caught off guard.

"Right now."

"Really?!" he said throwing up his hands. "When I'm actually finally, explaining everything...?!"

"Yes. Because, you've forgotten how all of this actually works."

 

***

THEN

 

Coulson was on his feet, hugging Skye to him, letting her bury her face against him, as he watched Ward gurgle. Then, SNAP. He was gone, just like that. 

Deathlok let the body collapse to the floor and turned to Garrett for his next order. Coulson felt Skye jump a bit as the Ward's weight hit the floor.

Ward had fought; he'd stabbed, twisted, choked, snapped; but Petersen was undaunted. It was only a matter of time before Peterson's speed and strength caught up with him. Coulson had to now consider this: was Mike Petersen even really alive? Or was he just automated? He thought about the TAHITI experiments and then closed the door on that. Now was not the time.

"He was a liability," Garrett said, leaning against his perch on the wall. "Which is a shame, because he was real good." Then, to Coulson, deadly serious, "I'm going to tell you what we want," he said. "And we'll let your girl live. You will not." 

Skye turned to look over at Garrett, her eyes filled with tears, "No."

"Hey, hey," Coulson said to her. "They're trying to break you," he continued. He linked their hands together. "You can't let him break you. No matter what happens."

"Phil, I..." she put her hands on either side of his face, kissing him suddenly, tenderly.

"There's always a way," he said, staring down into her eyes. "For us."

"Petersen, I need her getting our systems online again," interrupted Garrett. "Make sure the com is open, so she can hear everything."

Skye looked resigned as Deathlok lead her away, out into the corridor, still filled with smoke when they had fought their way through earlier. She was choking back defeat, letting her mind search for the exploit. Coulson had a plan, she knew he did. He wasn't just going to let himself die like that. Not after TAHITI, or what they had been through.

Mike pointed to a chair and she slid into it, shot over her shoulder, "I need power, you have to reboot the system."

The great thing about HYDRA was that when they were losing, all the minions ran like hell, Skye realized. She was going to put the coordinates in so that May and Tripp could find them. Garrett was probably wired to see everything Mike could see, but she would encode it. Taking comfort that Mike didn't have to know, he only had to see.

The emergency lights dimmed, full power came back up, and Skye immediately typed up the monitor to the room Coulson and Garrett were in tracking the motion sensors.

Coulson was down on his knees, and Garrett was looking straight ahead, his gun pointed down. Mouthing something silently. Like he was having a conversation.

"Is Garrett taking orders from someone else?" she asked herself. It had dawned on her. They had only seconds. She looked over at Mike. He was just staring at Garrett, watching him. Okay, she told herself. She knew Mike. Mike was clever. Mike was still going to be a hero. Mike was going to help her save Phil.

She booted the system and pulled up the satellite display, she needed to cut that frequency, right now. She created an exploit that only needed the frequency number entered into it. Mike still had all eyes on Garrett. Mike was faster than Garrett.

"Mike," she said, turning over to him, hoping he understood. "This is it."

 

***

NOW

 

Skye kissed Coulson with her whole body, forcing him to take hold of her, hold them together. It wasn't anything like her kissing him because she thought she'd never see him again. It was her asking, and him saying, yes. 

Yes.

"I always wanted it to all make sense," he rasped, "And when it didn't..."

"The best things never do. At first," she said, her hand over his heart. 

He smiled into her mouth, nodded, brushed away her hair so he could kiss her neck. "You always make so much sense..."

And he kissed her, wanting her to know, inspired, it was all just dawning on him.

"Skye," he was jubilant. "I've known so many things, all my life. Felt so sure."

"Yeah," she said, laughing. "And then, experience gets in the way."

She raised an eyebrow and pulled him to her.


End file.
